Spain's regional Basque Parliament June 22 voted down a motion submitted by the right-wing People's Party (PP) advocating "freedom of expression" and "pluralism in news media in Venezuela," following the refusal of the Hugo Chávez government to renew the broadcast license for RCTV. Instead the Parliament endorsed a resolution reasserting its "unequivocal stance to advocate freedom of opinion and expression," without condemning Venezuela. (El Universal, Caracas, June 20, El Universal, June 20)

A NATO air-strike on supposed Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan has killed dozens of civilians, including women, children and a Muslim cleric, Afghan officials charged June 22. The clash began the previous night when Taliban fighters attacked NATO troops in the Gereshk district of Helmand province and then fled to a residential area, said Mohammed Anwar Esaqzai, a local member of parliament. After a firefight of several hours, he said, NATO forces called in an airstrike that killed 36 civilians belonging to three families. "This is happening a lot," Esaqzai said. "If it continues to happen, it will raise the anger of the people and cause big problems for NATO."

Pakistan is nearing completion of a previously unknown plutonium-producing reactor at Khushab, approximately 109 miles south of Islamabad, the third such facility at the complex, a new satellite photo reveals. David Albright, the president of the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), along with DigitalGlobe, provided the satellite image to ABC News. Pakistan's government did not comment on the revelation.

Geeska Afrika reports June 22 that US warplanes based in Djbouti are overflying Somalia's northern autonomous enclave of Puntland in preparation for air-strikes against suspected al-Qaeda fugitives. The report also states that three weeks earlier, on June 2, a US Navy warship shelled the Puntland coastal town of Bargal, killing at least 12 Islamist fighters—with little note from the world media.

From the New York Times, June 21:

WASHINGTON, June 20 — Federal environmental officials misled Lower Manhattan residents about the extent of contamination in their condominiums and apartments after the collapse of the World Trade Center, according to a preliminary report released on Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) has welcomed a decision by the Mauritanian government to allow some 20,000 refugees to return from neighboring Mali and Senegal, where they have spent almost two decades in exile. The Mauritanian decision was announced on World Refugee Day, June 20.

Following the recent revelations about Ethiopia, a second African country has been named as hosting secret US detention center for terror suspects. Seymour Hersh's latest in the June 25 New Yorker, "The General's Report"—a reference to Antonio Taguba, who investigated the Abu Ghraib scandal—includes some quotes from a "recently retired high-level C.I.A. official" (anonymous, and therefore unverfiable, of course) about the "wrangling" over interrogation guidelines in the wake of the scandal. Writes Hersh:

At least eight people, including three children, died in Mogadishu in clashes between insurgents and Somalian interim government and Ethiopian occupation forces June 20. One of the dead was a Somalian police officer killed in an attack on a military camp. Hours earlier, seven were killed when Ethiopian soldiers opened fire after a roadside bomb exploded near one of their two passing trucks, residents said. Resident Adan Hussein told Reuters: "Ethiopian troops riding from the other truck started firing indiscriminately, killing three children. The children were in a house made of iron sheets." (Reuters, June 20)